The ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) are expected to validate draft conclusions on Friday 4 December, on the promotion of European cooperation in the field of offshore and other renewable energies.
The latest version of the draft conclusions, obtained by EUROPE, and tabled by the German EU Council Presidency, stresses that the deployment of all renewable energy technologies plays an indispensable role in achieving the EU's energy and climate goals.
The text mentions: bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind and solar energy; the energy of waves, currents and tides; salinity gradient power; seawater heating and cooling; geothermal energy; marine biomass (algae); as well as the potential conversion of existing oil and gas platforms to renewable energy platforms.
However, the costs of deploying renewables, especially in less mature markets and for less mature technologies, “need to be reduced further”, the document acknowledges.
The draft conclusions furthermore point to the need to develop offshore and onshore networks to connect offshore installations, which requires “a particularly high level of public acceptance and political support by Member States”.
While welcoming the European Commission's strategy on offshore renewable energy presented on 19 November (see EUROPE 12605/12), the German Presidency would like to call on the Commission to draw up “an ‘enabling framework’ at Union level for cross-border and other relevant national renewable energy projects”.
According to Berlin, this framework should, inter alia, provide a blueprint for the conclusion of bilateral and multilateral intergovernmental agreements between Member States on cross-border renewable energy projects, as well as guidance on how to improve and strengthen coordination between countries on planning for the maritime space and offshore grid planning.
The paper also stresses the importance of revising the framework for state aid for renewable energy so that it supports the deployment of renewable energy sources, provides investors with certainty of the necessary public support and public acceptance, and promotes research and innovation in the field of renewables.
Finally, while the strategy adopted by the Commission provides for the creation of a specialised working group on offshore renewable energies within the framework of the existing 'Clean Energy Industrial Forum', the Presidency proposes the creation of a 'European Forum on Offshore Renewable Energies'.
The latter would bring together Member States, regulators and relevant stakeholders “with the purpose of fostering regional cooperation and the exchange of best practices in the area of offshore renewable energies”.
If these conclusions are validated by the Ambassadors next week, a written procedure will start with a view to their formal adoption around 9 December.
See the draft conclusions: https://bit.ly/36d8XQ4 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)